


as long as amber of ember glows

by outdated



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Advisor Sokka, Boys In Love, Canon Compliant, Fire Lord Zuko, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Gay Zuko (Avatar), M/M, POV Sokka (Avatar), Post-Canon, Swimming, The Turtleduck Pond, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Underage Drinking, Zuko is stressed, and sokka is the disaster bi is didnt know i needed, anyway yes i am a gay zuko truther, can you tell i'm not the best at dialogue lol, everything about his character is gay coded, i think this ship needs much more tender moments, its 4 am, just a smidge of angst, minimal editing sorry, yes i identify with sokka and what about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24586075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outdated/pseuds/outdated
Summary: Zuko desperately needs to unwind. Sokka comes up with a plan
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 312





	as long as amber of ember glows

**Author's Note:**

> hello! can't believe i haven't finished a fic in a year lmao senior year did not treat me kindly but i made it and am back to writing. i have a ton of WIPs but this was the first one i finished.
> 
> title from 'would that i' by hozier. don't even try to tell me that wasteland, baby! isn't a zukka album
> 
> no trigger warnings for this, just a ton of fluff
> 
> hope you enjoy!

Despite what everyone seemed to think about him, Sokka was quite observant. And he liked it that way.

He liked to pretend that he had zoned out, picked one spot in the room he was in, and stared, all while listening to everything going on around him. It was helpful when he wanted to eavesdrop without being caught or surprise someone with knowing something they thought he didn't. It came in handy quite a lot.

Recently, he had taken to watching Zuko during the day. Of course, he watched him almost all the time when he was around him, but he was paying a little closer attention to him to the point where others were starting to notice. Other advisors in the meeting room each morning were starting to have to say his name twice to get his attention. Being distracted had always been pretend and he always listened closely, but now he was genuinely distracted by Zuko. He couldn't really help it.

Zuko was looking quite rundown. It wasn't unexpected with him being the Fire Lord and everything, but it seemed to be much worse lately. He was usually exhausted by nightfall and crawled into bed very late, but recently he seemed much more exhausted and came to bed later and later. Sokka saw that his shoulders sagged a little more with each passing day, his undereye bags got a little darker, and most troubling, when he came to bed later and later every night Sokka had been falling asleep before Zuko. He had a sudden thought and wondered if Zuko was actually sleeping or if he was coming to bed to make sure Sokka was sleeping (because he refused to fall asleep until Zuko came to bed) and then slipping out to go back to his office. 

Zuko was always awake and out doing something early because it was normal for Zuko to wake and rise with the sun and it was _very_ abnormal for Sokka to do the same, but he had to wonder if Zuko was sleeping at all. It was very possible that he was coming to bed very late and getting up earlier than normal, and if he did sleep at all it was likely hunched over the desk in his office. He remembered in the beginning, when he was reordering the palace, telling Zuko that he shouldn't have a desk in the bedroom because it wasn't good to sleep and do work in the same environment. He momentarily thinks it would be better for him to have a desk in their bedroom because then Sokka would be able to watch him and annoy him into coming to bed and sleeping.

It was a sad realization. Zuko worked so hard and even Sokka could sense the feeling that the work was unending. One hundred years of war couldn't exactly be undone in a few months, Sokka knew that, but sometimes he wished it could take a break for a little while.

Sokka could tell Zuko was reaching his breaking point when he snapped at a servant who asked him one too many questions about how he wanted his dinner prepared. He apologized profusely afterward and hung his head low in shame long after she had left, but he still did it and Sokka witnessed it. Zuko was still on shaky terms with his staff who were traumatized and fearful of anyone with the Fire Lord title after the treatment they received from Ozai and many of the rulers before him. Zuko was making a valiant effort at getting the workers to trust him, but Sokka could tell he thought he ruined all his progress with them with just a few words and a sharp tone. He was obviously getting overwhelmed with all the new duties and responsibilities and the piles of work and demands from people that never seemed to stop and while Zuko was good at pretending that he wasn't, Sokka was much better at noticing the little things that said he was.

They ate dinner together at Zuko’s very large desk mostly in silence. Sokka had no reason to be there, he had finished his work for the day, but he stayed anyway. Sometimes he liked to spend his free time getting into trouble around the palace, but today he knew Zuko would benefit from some company. 

He did get restless after a while though and could tell Zuko was getting irritated with his sudden bursts of conversation that he would pointedly ignore, so he decided to get out of his hair and find something to do. 

He did what he does best, he started planning. 

By the time he was done, it was well into the night, and predictably, Zuko still hadn't come to their bedroom yet to sleep. That worked out in Sokka’s favor anyway because he needed Zuko to be working to kick off his plan, and it was a fool-proof one. Sokka leaped up from the giant bed and marched down the hall, down some stairs, and through more halls. No wonder Zuko came to bed so late, it was a task just to walk there. He should tell Zuko to move the professional and working part of the palace closer to the living quarters someday, but he filed that thought away from another day--or night.

Once he arrived at his personal office he made a point to slam the door open very loudly. Zuko flinched and turned quickly toward the door to yell at whoever slammed the door, but whatever he planned to shout died when he saw it was Sokka. The anger was quickly replaced with annoyance though and he ended up yelling anyway.

“Why did you do that?”

Sokka smiled radiantly like it wasn't the middle of the night and he wasn't sending the Fire Lord himself into a fit. “I wanted to get your attention.”

“You don't have to slam the door to do that.”

Sokka rolled his eyes. “Okay, I wanted to make a grand entrance.”

Zuko sighed and turned back to whatever was on his desk that he must have thought was more important than Sokka.

Sokka couldn't have any of that.

A devious little grin spread across his lips and he crossed the room. He grabbed the back of the chair Zuko was sitting in and pulled him away from the desk and into the middle of the room. Zuko flailed, but to his credit, he didn't fall out of the chair. When Sokka stopped he did promptly jump up though.

“Why did you do _that?_ ” He shouted indignantly and it shouldn't have made Sokka grin even more, but it did.

“I need your help.”

“I’m working.”

“No, you aren't.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No, you're just standing in the middle of the room.”

“Because you dragged me away from the desk!”

“Oh come on, you wouldn't deny your favorite boyfriend something, right?”

  
“Sokka, I’m busy,” Zuko said, now sounding more exasperated than annoyed. That was good, it meant Sokka was breaking through to him.

“Pretty please?”

“No.”

“Zuko, please.”

“No. I can't stop working now.”

It was time to bring out the final weapon, something Zuko couldn't say no to. Coming at him when he was tired, annoying him, and being funny were all tactics to get Zuko to give into him, but it was time for the final blow.

Sokka pulled out the most overdramatic and laughable pout he could manage and looked at Zuko with the biggest puppy-dog eyes ever. “Not even for me?”

He saw the moment Zuko realized there was no fighting back against him. Zuko sighed and rubbed at his face and then finally: “Okay, what do you need?”

Sokka smiled mischievously and grabbed Zuko’s wrist, once again dragging him. This time, it’s out of the room and down the hall. 

Sokka is giggling like a little kid and Zuko is stumbling after him like a disgruntled cat. It's very entertaining to the guards stationed who have long since stopped viewing Sokka’s overly affectionate and informal treatment of the Fire Lord as anything other than teenage shenanigans.

When Sokka is finally done running around the palace, they're in the royal garden, standing at the edge of the turleduck pond.

“What are we doing here?” Zuko asked with an adorable yawn. 

“We’re going swimming!” Sokka said triumphantly and yanked his shirt off. 

Zuko stared at him for a second before he seemed to realize what Sokka meant. “What? No, we can't do that! It's the middle of the night!”

“Oh, come on. Nobody is awake and all your oh so very important Fire Lord duties will be there when we’re done,” Sokka said as he pulled his pants off and tossed them on top of his shirt. “Now strip!”

“What--no!”

“Don't get all modest on me now, Zuko!” Sokka said and reached out to pull the ribbon holding his robes closed. Sokka blamed Zuko not putting up much of a fight on him being tired, but where he lacked in physical resistance, he more than made up for in verbal resistance. Sokka took all Zuko’s yelling about how he had so many things to do and it was improper for the Fire Lord to be running around in the middle of the night and even more improper to be swimming in the pond as an opportunity to push the robes down his shoulders and onto the ground. Zuko would probably have a heart attack over his favorite casual robe getting dirty, but he was much too distracted.

“--can't just take a break at a time like this when there are so many things to do and I’m so busy and--”

Zuko doesn't get to finish his little rant slash protest because Sokka shoved him into the water; it's okay, he wasn't really listening to it anyway. Zuko barely had time to yelp before he crashed into the water’s surface and disappeared underneath.

Sokka laughed gleefully and jumped in after Zuko. When he came back up Zuko was pushing his hair back and out of his face and he looked like he was about to start yelling at Sokka again until he saw the joyous look on Sokka’s face. Despite himself, it made him grin a little. Zuko felt the tension melt from his body and a little bit of the exhaustion that weighed his body down lifted. Sokka noticed it too, saw the way Zuko seemed to unfurl like the blooming flower and relax a little.

“Water war!” Sokka screamed suddenly and didn't give Zuko enough time to react to his tackle. Sokka dunked Zuko under the water and when he came up, Zuko had to spit a mouthful of water out.

“Oh, you're on,” Zuko said with a sly grin and thus the water war commenced. The pond, like the rest of the palace, was huge and could handle the splashing and thrashing of two teenage boys trying to get the other under the water. The turtleducks were safely sleeping under some bushes and a single guard watched as Zuko very much won the water war. Sokka would say he let Zuko win to boost his spirits, but that wasn't true.

They must have spent at least an hour in the pond because when they both climbed out, their fingertips were pruned and Zuko had the biggest smile Sokka had seen on him in months. He looked so peaceful and relaxed as they laid out on the grass underneath the moon and Sokka couldn't stop the swell of his heart in his chest. Zuko was on his back, smiling up at the stars, and Sokka couldn't help but push himself up onto his elbow and lean over to kiss Zuko sweetly and lovingly on his lips. There was a short pause, and then Zuko kissed back, his hands reaching up to wrap around Sokka’s shoulders.

Sokka didn't get to kiss Zuko very often. Zuko was busy more often than not and still wasn't very comfortable with physical affection. He still had a hard time accepting many forms of touch and Sokka was more than willing to work with Zuko to make him understand that every touch was not a threat and that when Sokka held his hand, when he let a hand rest on his shoulder, when he patted his head, and when he kissed him it was not to hurt him or scare him, but to show how much he cared and loved him. 

Sokka pulled away and smiled at Zuko like he hung the stars in the sky, and Sokka wasn't afraid to admit that his heart stuttered when Zuko looked at him in the same way. 

“Hi,” Zuko whispered. He had a brilliant blush marking his cheeks.

“Hey,” Sokka said and pressed another quick kiss to Zuko’s lips before laying down back again. For a while, they just laid beside each other and were content to just look up at the thousands of stars that littered the sky. Sokka didn't know that the stars in Caldera City would be different from the stars in the South Pole. He could look at the glowing stars forever as long as Zuko was there with him.

“I like your hair when it's down,” Zuko said after some time.

Sokka turned to look at him and saw Zuko staring at him, the small smile he couldn't get rid of even if he wanted to grew bigger. The tie holding his hair back had been lost in the water war and laid lonely at the bottom of the pond. Sokka was glad that he hadn't spent much time looking for it. “Thank you,” he said gratefully because Zuko didn't give out compliments freely and he cherished each and every one of them. “I like seeing you happy, you look very pretty like this.”

Zuko promptly looked back up at the sky and Sokka chuckled. Zuko is much worse at accepting compliments than he is at giving them. Sokka’s working on that too. He reached over to Zuko and manhandled him into resting his head on Sokka’s chest and pressing his body flush with Sokka’s as well.

For a little while, they weren't the Fire Lord and his Top Advisor, they were just Zuko and Sokka. Not two people tired and traumatized from fighting a war, just two teenagers who were alone under the stars and in love. The stresses and anxiety over rebuilding the world after a century-long war were at bay and all that was left was young love at its finest. They deserved to have fun and be teenagers after many lifetimes worth of violence.

“This isn't all I have planned, you know,” Sokka said when he looked down and noticed Zuko was half asleep on him.

“Oh?” was all Zuko said with a slight raise of his eyebrow. He didn't open his eyes.

“Nope, come on pretty boy. Get up and get dressed!” Sokka cheered and pushed Zuko up to a sitting position. He got up and shook the dirt from Zuko’s robes and handed them back to him and they both dressed.

“You lead the way,” Zuko said and allowed Sokka to hold his hand. 

They didn't run through the palace this time, they walked slow and lazily, talking quietly along the way. Zuko was laughing easily at Sokka’s horrible jokes.

Sokka finally turned into a room and it was the sprawling main kitchen of the palace. Zuko looked over at him questioningly, but Sokka just took him between two of the counters and sat him down on the floor, leaning back against a cabinet. Sokka squatted down and dug through the cabinet next to Zuko. Zuko was about to ask what he was looking for, but Sokka started tossing things at him before he could. Sokka closed the cabinet when he was done and sat down next to Zuko, squashing himself against his shoulder.

“A bunch of snacks is your big surprise?” Zuko asked, but started searching through until he found something he liked and tore into it.

“Yeah, duh,” Sokka said and started stuffing his face. It only took a month or two to get used to the spicy foods of the Fire Nation. All the traveling and rationing and eating anything he could get his hands on during the war had taught him how to adapt his tolerance for different foods rather quickly. 

“It's not good to eat at night,” Zuko said as he too stuffed his face.

“Who cares, you're royalty, you can do whatever you want.”

Zuko snorted and let his head fall onto Sokka’s shoulder. Sokka’s heartbeat still spiked every time Zuko did something like that. Zuko showed his love in subtle ways and if someone wasn't looking closely or didn't know the pair very well, they might think the relationship was one-sided. They would see the way Sokka wore his heart on his sleeve and gave Zuko everything he had, anything Zuko wanted he gave to him so freely and almost without thought. They would see the way Zuko overworked himself to the point of nearly burning out, they would think Zuko didn't care for Sokka and just tolerated his being around. Sokka understood though, that Zuko showed his love in the little things. The light squeezes when they held hands, the gifts he brought for Sokka when he saw something during some political travels he thought Sokka would like, the way he was slowly opening-up and becoming less and less awkward and anxious each day, the way he and Sokka built up their confidence and self-esteem together, they way Zuko blindly trusted Sokka, because if anyone else tried to pull the stunt Sokka did, they wouldn't be met with such little resistance.

“I have one more thing,” Sokka said and pulled a bottle from another cabinet. 

“Where did you get Sake from?” Zuko said and took the bottle from him.

“Oh, I’m not above bribing a chef or two to find out where the real goods are,” Sokka said and took the bottle back. He popped the lid off and took a large gulp. His face twisted at the burn that went down his throat when he swallowed it, but the warm feeling in his belly made up for it.

“That's gross,” Zuko said, but grabbed the bottle and did the same thing.

They passed the bottle back and forth like that and ate Sokka’s snack stache and talked and laughed so hard they cried. Sokka discovered that Zuko was a cuddly and affectionate drunk and Sokka discovered he was ‘everything-is-funny’ drunk. 

“We should--” Sokka hiccuped, “--go to bed now.”

“Good idea,” Zuko mumbled into Sokka’s neck, but he didn't make any move to unwrap his arms from around Sokka’s torso and get up.

“Well then, up we go,” he said and slowly and carefully managed to get the both of them to their feet. They stumbled around as tipsy teenagers do down the hallways of the palace. They both clung to each other because yes, they did drink the whole bottle of Sake and yes, it was probably more than either of them should have had. Sokka was a little less drunk because he let Zuko drink more though, Zuko needed it more than he did. They left the kitchen a bit of a mess but Sokka would go back in the morning and hope the kitchen staff would understand why it was so messy and offer to help them clean up.

It took several minutes and maybe a little help from the guards, but they finally made it to their bedroom. Zuko promptly collapsed onto the bed and closed his eyes, not bothering to move the sheets over himself. Sokka worked on pulling Zuko’s shoes and robes off and getting him into his sleep clothes. It was a testament to how tired he was because Zuko didn't even try to put up any sort of fight. He probably got only a single-digit number of hours of sleep over the past few days and while the adventure with Sokka had been the most fun he had in months and quite energizing, the exhaustion caught up to him at that moment and he was putty in Sokka’s hands.

Sokka changed as well and repositioned Zuko in bed, pulled the sheets over him, and climbed in beside him. Zuko attached himself to Sokka like an octopus and Sokka couldn't be any happier. Nothing made Sokka feel more amazing than seeing Zuko content and comfortable, after all they had been through, they deserved it. The war had forced them to grow up and mature far quicker than what was ideal, and it was refreshing to just be happy and do mundane things like swim, eat snacks, get drunk on the kitchen floor, and fall asleep together. 

Sokka stayed up to make sure Zuko slept but it didn't take much, maybe two minutes before Zuko was out and Sokka wasn’t far behind him, falling asleep easier and more in love with Zuko than all the other nights they spent together before.

In the morning, Sokka would wake up earlier than Zuko for the first time ever and tell the servants to cancel everything Zuko had planned for the day that related to his duties as Fire Lord. Zuko would be mad at him at first and stress about all the work that wouldn't get done, but it would turn to appreciation when he realized just how much he needed a real day off. They would have fun and run around the city and cause mayhem like normal teenage boys who were madly in love were supposed to.

For now, though, they slept peacefully.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading! drop a kudos or a comment if you enjoyed! <3


End file.
